5 North Inc is a privately owned sales and marketing company based in New York City. After opening our doors in 2006, we've expanded to over 25 offices nationwide. We believe our people and culture are the most important part of our success. Here we will share some weekly tips on how we set our team up for success and our mentality on leadership in the workplace…enjoy!

July 27, 2015August 10, 2015

Weekly Tip #5- Connecting With People

At 5 North Inc., we value the relationships we make with each team member. We believe that connecting on a more personal level allows us to have a more positive and successful work environment. Creating a tight-knit connection between team members also allows for us to trust each other, as we all know that we want what is best for each other. Although we remain professional, we believe that being friends and creating special bonds are what help us thrive as an office. Our weekly tip this week is how to connect with people.

Always listen more than you talk. You want the people you work with to know that your intentions are to help them. Listen to their concerns and what they want for their lives. Listening helps you as well as them. You can’t learn anything if you are always the one talking. Hear different perspectives and different experiences and see how they can impact you and your own thinking.

Connect with everyone. Spend time outside of the office to get to know your team. What are their goals? What are their backgrounds? Once you know each member on a more personable level, you will feel more comfortable in the environment you can create for yourself. Knowing people outside the work place can help you understand their mannerisms within the work place. It can also allow you to understand their mindsets if they are different than your own.

Let them know you believe in them. Once people know you believe in them, they will begin to believe in themselves even more. Not only do they not want to let themselves down, but they most definitely do not want to let you down if they know you see a bright future for them.

Be the leader. This ties back to our weekly tip last week on how to be a top leader. Be the example and role model in every situation you are placed in. You want your teammates to look up to you and wish they were you. Be their motivator for who they want to be and an example of how hard they need to work to be as great as you are or even better.

The simplest, yet one of the most important things you need to remember is to laugh! Make sure you are always having fun with the people you are working with. This includes both inside and outside of the office. Don’t try to be intimidating, and definitely don’t be uptight all the time. Remember the 3 R’s: Read, Relate and Relax! Reach a common ground with whomever you are with and have a good time.

At 5 North Inc. a huge part of our office’s culture is team night and office night. We set aside two nights out of the week to reconnect after our long days of work. We go out together as an office to build long lasting, strong relationships with our colleagues. The better that we know each other, the better we can work as a team, and the more successful we will be. So remember…